


Ashes to Ashes

by MidgardianNerd



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Inappropriate Use of the Force, POV Kylo Ren, That's not focusing on the trio at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:13:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21865777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidgardianNerd/pseuds/MidgardianNerd
Summary: Kylo facing the trio will end today. Where everything began.
Relationships: Kylo Ren & Shmi Skywalker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Ashes to Ashes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [idrilhadhafang](https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/gifts).

> That's a story I got the idea when we had few informations about The Rise of Skywalker. Just the info that Palpatine would be back. So, that's what I imagined from that. Obviously, it's nothing like in the movie.
> 
> PS: I'm not an expert at all about Force stuff so sorry if things are impossible.

Tatooine. Everything began there. Everything will end there. Today. Supreme Leader Ren couldn’t care less what the Scavenger tried to find on this planet. He didn’t wait for her to come on this planet and looking for any thing that his grandfather, before becoming Darth Vader, could have left in this desert. There was nothing there. For anybody. Her being the last hope of Luke Skywalker would change nothing to that. She will find nothing there. Except for her own death. 

Kylo Ren pushed on the handles of his ship, knowing that the Scavenger would not be so simply killed. But it was satisfying. To be the hunter. After she thought she could save him. Like she was important. Like she meant something. She had been a fool. Like Ben Solo had been before her. There was only one person who could have saved Ben Solo. And Kylo Ren killed him. No matter how painful it has been. How painful it still was. 

This girl knew nothing about pain. She would never understand that Kylo needed nothing else except pain. Ben Solo wanted everything and got nothing. Kylo Ren didn’t ask. Snoke put a red saber in his hands and Kylo took what he wanted, lashing his way through fire and chaos. 

The Scavenger flew above his ship and Kylo didn’t lose any time. End of the game. It will be she or he. But one of them will not coming alive from their last duel. Kylo stopped his ship and turned off the engines. Grabbing his saber, the Supreme Leader stepped out, feeling the hot suns of Tatooine hitting his skin. 

She was there, facing him, her lightsaber, his grandfather’s lightsaber in her hand, ready to clash against his. Kylo felt the warm wind and the sand whipping his face. But he didn’t take off his eyes from her. She was standing there, on this planet where the Skywalker lineage began, with this weapon, his legacy in her hand. She was probably where Luke Skywalker always dreamt for Ben Solo to stand. But Kylo didn’t feel anymore regrets or jealousy. He was free of this legacy. A legacy made in blood and lies. 

He didn’t need them anymore. He came higher than anybody else in his family before him. He was the Supreme Leader, ruling on the whole galaxy, building a new order where Jedis and Siths wouldn’t exist anymore. Him, from all of them, only him would really change the world around him. The world would adapt to him, not the reverse. Not anymore. 

Kylo didn’t talk to her after he turned on his saber. He used to. Wanting a reaction from her. But not anymore. They were not children. They were enemies. And Kylo’s saber would talk for him. Kylo began to walk towards her. She didn’t move, she just raised her saber, waiting for him to attack. And he would. He used to be a storm. Now free of everybody, of every link to the weak boy he was once, Kylo Ren was a hurricane. 

Ren raised up with arm and the Scavenger did the same. In the following second, their blades clashed against each other and Kylo gritted his teeth, feeling the puissance of the kyber crystal vibrating in his arm, spreading in his whole body and Kylo felt his soul awakening with greed and lust for this sensation. Kylo didn’t step back, he went forward, charged like a wild animal. Seeing the Scavenger stepping back, trying to parry his hits, it was the most satisfied Kylo felt in a long time. 

The girl trained. He could feel the difference with their first duel. On Starkiller. And if he hadn’t been so weak, thanks to Han Solo and his Wookie friend, he would have killed her there. But no, Ben’s father pulled him towards the Light and Kylo Ren tried to bring her to his side. A mistake. That he would never done again. No matter that the girl was stronger and more in tone with the Force than she was then. Kylo didn’t care about anything else anymore. He conquered his freedom after years of pain, doubt and sacrifice. This girl will not take this from him. 

The Scavenger flew above him. Ho! So she studied the old ways of the Jedis. She was still stuck in this narrative, her mind too narrow to see how wrong they all were. Kylo would teach her a last lesson. He deflected the hit of her blade with his saber before grabbing her ankle, stopping her in the air. He could feel her surprise and all her efforts to not show her fear. But Kylo could feel it. An enemy afraid was a dead enemy. 

Kylo pulled on the Scavenger’s leg, throwing her away like she weighed nothing and pushing her with the Force until her back hit rocks. He felt her pain through their almost severed bond and it fueled his rage. His fingers tightened around his saber handle while he walked to the girl still on the floor, trying to stand up to fight back. The old Kylo, the one who sought approval from Snoke would have make it last. He wasn’t this weak child anymore. He was his own. And he didn’t have time to lose. 

Once he was above the Scavenger, she looked at him, her face distorted with disgust and anger. Maybe once, it would have made born something in him. But Kylo grew out of this weakness. He was alone. Free. She opened her hand, calling for the saber, this saber Kylo wanted so much. But when it slid towards them, Kylo crushed his foot on it. He raised his arm, feeling the Force signature of the girl around him. She was trying to freeze him, to stop his fateful hand. She was strong. But not enough to stop him. Her Jedi serenity couldn’t do anything against his rage. That was what he would survive and she not. Because he trusted nobody. Because he was his own. 

Kylo pushed back against the Force and the tip of his blade scraped against the Scavenger’s skin, ready to hole through her chest. Kylo felt the blaster shot too late and it hit him in the back, between his shoulder blades, making him flying further from his enemy. Kylo groaned, feeling his skin burning around his wound. When he looked up, the Traitor stormtrooper was at the girl’s side, helping her to stand up. And front of them, with a blaster in his hand, ready to protect his friends, Poe Dameron. 

Poe Dameron. Leia Organa’s surrogate son. He was everything people dreamt for Ben Solo to be. Even Ben Solo himself. His eyes locked with Dameron’s. He could see his struggle to forget that Ren was wearing the face of his long-lost friend. Kylo felt his rage flickering for a minute. Poe Dameron was the only person from his past who never failed Ben Solo. But then, he was also the embodiment of Ben Solo and Ren’s all failures. Dameron was a warrior, like him. Someone he could respect. Dameron accepted who he was. Something that Kylo never succeeded to do. Until now. 

Kylo stood up again, ignoring the pain in his back, letting it flow back in his veins. Pain wasn’t an obstacle, pain was a drive. He was now facing the three other warriors, all of them knew that everything would end there. Kylo wasn’t afraid. Even if they were more than him. Even if he was alone. He would have nobody else than himself to care about. Contrary to them. Being several was a weakness that Kylo didn’t have to suffer anymore. 

The Traitor was the first one to charge on him, trying to hit with a staff. Kylo grabbed the staff and dragged the trooper body to him, headbutting him. Kylo felt his brow bone breaking due to the force of the impact and soon, the blood was rolling down in his right eye. He let go the staff and the Traitor. First, he would kill the Jedi. Then, the Traitor. And then...then Dameron. 

This time, he felt Dameron’s blaster shot and he froze it before pushing it back towards the rebel. He knew that Dameron managed to avoid it. But Kylo’s saber was again clashing against the blue blade. The girl learnt quickly and she didn’t try anymore to use Jedi tricks on him. She was fighting him as an equal. On the same ground. 

Kylo felt the staff sinking in his left flank at the same time than a blaster shot scratched his shoulder. Kylo groaned, absorbing the pain. His saber was vibrating against the Scavenger’s, both pushing to dominate the other one and Kylo struggled to hold back his stance due to the number of his attackers. And they dared to call him a coward. Kylo let out a smirk. They will learn. The Supreme Leader let his rage flooding through the Force and Dameron and the Traitor were frozen, unable to move, unable to do anything else than watching Ren, ready to stab their friend. 

Kylo was ready to sink his weapon in the Scavenger’s body when he felt something pulling on his wrist, cutting him in his tracks. Kylo groaned and pushed back but even if his arm was trembling, he couldn’t go further. No! He wouldn’t be stopped so close to succeed. Who dared to stop him? Who dared to control him? Whoever they were, Kylo would destroy them. He refused to be a slave again.

The warmth spreading on his armed arm surprised him by its sudden intensity. He saw the Scavenger looking in awe at his side and the Supreme Leader frowned before turning his head, tripping backwards with violence and shock when he spotted a face he never saw, so close to him. Kylo shrank away that touch, refusing to be that vulnerable, especially to something he couldn’t understand what was it. 

The Supreme Leader rose his saber, ready to fight whatever would be thrown to him. But the sudden apparition didn’t move, letting to Kylo the time to measure his enemy. It had a human face, a woman. The light coming from this strange ghost was blinding but it didn’t hurt Kylo’s eyes. He could see her, distinctly. Her dark hair, floating in the warm wind of this hellish desert. Her dark eyes, looking only at him. No hate, no disgust in them. Looking at him like she knew him forever. Like she didn’t care about who he became. Looking at him truly, probing his soul, leaving him unable to flee, unable to lie. 

“What are you?” groaned Kylo, his saber buzzing with rage towards her. 

The apparition smiled softly and Kylo felt his breath choking his throat. Nobody smiled like that to him. Not for a long time. The last time, Kylo wasn’t yet wearing that name. Kylo’s grip tightened around his saber’s handle, hating the vulnerability this simple smile spread into his heart. He was above this. He had too. He fought too much. He sacrificed too much. Everything he lost, it wouldn’t be for nothing. He wouldn’t succumb to the Light just because a weird Force Ghost or whatever Skywalker sent to him was showing kindness to him. 

She could only be that. A tool from Skywalker to harass him. Because Skywalker has been a coward and a fool. Because he has been weak and didn’t dare to fight Kylo. Because he preferred to play a trick, to play cruelly with Kylo’s mind than to face the consequences of his own acts. But even if she could feel Skywalker’s energy coming from her, she looked so different from what Kylo knew about Force Ghost. 

She was shining with golden dust, looking so alive, so warm, so different from this cold blue light he heard about and hoped for his Grandfather to show up, looking like that. No! The woman was different. She was feeling different. The Force was strong but quiet. But it was the source of it which confused Kylo. It wasn’t like any other person, with the Force coming through them, flooding through their bodies, Force users being able to channel that source of energy and using it. No! The Force, so intense, so blinding, so wild, the Force like Kylo never experienced it was coming from her. She was one with the Force. She was The Force. 

Kylo couldn’t imagine what he could do with such a power. How he could truly bring a new order to that Galaxy. Not more Light or Darkness. A true balance. Whoever she was, whatever she was, Kylo could use her. The Supreme Leader lowered his saber but didn’t turn it off. He wasn’t a fool anymore to trust someone. 

The woman was still standing there without saying anything, her face still looking so peaceful. It seemed so easy for her. Kylo couldn’t stop this peace infiltrating his heart, toning down his rage. And it hurt. This never dying fire which fueled him for so many years was fading and its ashes threw pain in every fiber of his body. 

Greeting his teeth from pain and fear, the Supreme Leader walked towards her, feeling the eyes of his frozen enemies on him, all of them trying to understand as much as him, trying to find a way to take advantage of the situation to escape Kylo’s Force hold on them. But it was useless. His power wouldn’t be weakened so easily. He would deal with them once he would have dealt with her. The Supreme Leader stood before the golden Ghost, his saber’s blade scratching the floor between them, the red light reflecting on Kylo’s boots and yet, that angry light couldn’t reflect on her, like her light refused to be contaminated by this poisonous shadow. 

“What are you?” asked Kylo, his eyes trying to pierce through this bright face, looking for a clue, for any sign of a threat and ready to end it when spotted. But the woman didn’t do anything to still smile at him.

“Hello Ben.” whispered a soft voice. 

_ Ben _ . A name he never chose. A name he didn’t earn. A name he didn’t want. A name he hated. But this  _ Ben _ was different. Not like that scavenger’s obsession to call him like that, her stupid hope and compassion that he hated everytime she talked to him. Like she could change something. Just because Organa and Skywalker made her believing she was special. They did it for him once too and when they proved to them that indeed he was, they abandoned him, refusing to acknowledge their role in Kylo Ren’s rise. 

This  _ Ben _ was different. Not like his father’s. With sadness and regrets filling this strong voice weakened by sorrow and age. With pain and despair shining darkly in his bright blue eyes, making him looking so old. Not like his father’s which made him hating himself more and more every time he thought about it.

In this  _ Ben _ , there was only...love.

“Who are you?” whispered Kylo, his voice breaking with a betraying tremor. 

She didn’t answer but took a step forward, her small figure looking so fragile with him towering on her like that. And yet, Kylo knew she was strong. Stronger than any of them here. Even stronger than the scavenger. Kylo could feel the warmth coming from her. Nothing insufferable like the hotness of this awful planet. Something more sweet, comfortable. 

She wrapped her hands around Kylo’s fists and his body relaxed like it never did before. Or at least, not in a very long time. Kylo could feel his lungs unfolding and so he could breathe, truly breathe. A breath so deep that it went through his whole body, echoing in every muscle, whispering in his mind. 

Kylo tensed when he felt this intrusion in his mind, too familiar, too hurtful. But to his surprise, he could hear no voice except his. The young man gasped, feeling alone in his head and suddenly tasting this strange silence. Kylo didn’t know if he liked it or not.

“You look so much like him.” whispered quietly the woman and Kylo frowned. So that’s why she showed him kindness and love? Because he reminded her someone. Kylo should have known better than trusting someone. “No Ben.” added the woman, her fingers pressing around Kylo’s. “He is a part of me like you are.” 

“Who?” gasped Kylo, tears burning his eyes and Kylo didn’t know if he could cry front of her. 

“My little Ani.” smiled softly the woman, her eyes shining with the same tears that Kylo. “My son.” she added and the devotion and utter love in her voice finished to break Kylo’s resistance to his tears. 

Kylo never understood what maternal love meant, how could he? His own mother couldn’t hide her own fear to have given birth to a monster. But in these few words, it was like everything he ever sought from his mother was finally offered to his comprehension. But it wasn’t his mother. And it wasn’t for him. Nobody would love him like that woman loved her son. Kylo couldn’t look anymore at her. She was a cruel reminder of everything Kylo had to give up to come where he was now. 

Kylo felt something warm and soft pressing against his jawline. The woman pushed softly so Kylo would look at her. The young man accepted his defeat. He felt that he couldn’t hide anything from her. And when he looked back into these bright dark eyes, having her sounding his soul didn’t feel so frightening anymore. Like, she was supposed to know everything about him. Always has been. 

“You’re seeking guidance from the wrong people Ben.” whispered the woman and Kylo hated the sadness he could hear in his voice. A disappointment. Like he always has been. 

The Supreme Leader shrank away from her, hatred and disgust to have been tricked filling his heart as quick as it left it to her gentle touch. But she didn’t let him go. She cradled his face in her hands and Kylo’s whole body got petrified, fearing to be hurt, fearing to hurt. She looked so fragile. Like her heart could be broken beyond repair if he tried again to flee. Kylo wasn’t sure to have the strength to face that prospect. 

“I can’t lose you like I lost him.” cried the woman and Kylo saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. It was a sight he despised instantly. Her thumbs brushed under his eyes and Kylo’s lips shook with sobs he refused to let go. 

“Who am I?” whispered Kylo, his hand wrapping around her wrist, fearing the answer.

“You’re the last one of my children.” smiled softly the woman, her fingers brushing Kylo’s dark hair from his forehead. “Like Leia and Luke are.” whispered the woman and it hurt Kylo to be given back a place in that family he loved and loathed so much. “Like Anakin is.” she added and Kylo gasped, his lost eyes diving into hers, seeking the truth. 

And suddenly, her name was clear in his mind. He knew her. His blood answered to hers, his heart echoed hers, his life entwined to hers. She was a part of him and he was a part of her. She was the first of them. He was the last of them. 

“Shmi.” breathed out Kylo, tears rolling to taste like relief on his mouth. 

“Ben.” smiled back his great grandmother, finally meeting up with her last heir. 

Kylo turned off his saber without even thinking about it. The only thing he could think was that finally someone answered his calls, someone heard his prayers. Someone decided he was worth their time. His hands shook above Shmi’s shoulders, the golden dust caressing his gloves and Kylo bit down a sob, wondering how the Force could be so cruel to not let him touching her. 

“Why now?” pant Kylo and he hated how childish he sounded. But Shmi didn’t care.

“I saw an old man manipulating my son for his power. I saw an old man destroying my boy’s soul for his own glory. I saw my son becoming someone he would have never stand to be.” answered Shmi and in her fragile voice, Kylo could hear all the pain she suffered from that. “I wouldn’t let the same thing happening to you. Not if I can stop it.” grumbled the woman, her voice fierce like only a protective mother could sound. And it warmed Kylo’s heart, a small smile on his lips. 

“I killed him.” answered Kylo, his voice as fierce as hers. He wanted for her to know that he fought. That he conquered his own freedom. That he wasn’t a slave anymore.

“But you’re still hearing his voice in your head.” affirmed Shmi, a small smile on her lips and the tips of her fingers softly stroking Kylo’s temple.

“That’s just a memory.” whispered Kylo, trying to convince her, even if he couldn’t convince himself. 

“He is still winning Ben.” breathed Shmi, her thumb brushing along Kylo’s scar and the young man shivered with shame and disgust. “Every moment you stay away from the Light, he is winning.” sobbed the woman and Kylo closed his eyes. He didn’t want to hear that. He didn’t want to hear every single one of his fears being said loud by that soft and lovely voice. 

“That’s who I am.” cried Kylo, shooking his head. He didn’t have the right to seek more kindness and affection from her. He made his choice. A long time ago. But breaking her heart made this choice more insufferable that it never has been before. 

“That’s not true. And you know it.” whispered Shmi, her hand resting on Kylo’s chest and it was like she was holding his heart gently between her fingers. “We all know it.” she added and Kylo felt waves of faint presences throbbing through his heart.

“We?” asked Kylo, confused at whom could really think that he wasn’t a monster.

“Every single one who shares your blood.” whispered Shmi. “Every single one who is loving you.” she added, and Kylo gasped when the hold around his heart tightened, like a dozen of hands were holding it. 

“It’s too late.” cried Kylo, Shmi’s face being the only thing he could see through his tears, focusing on her eyes because he couldn’t stand the memory of the last time someone tried to save him.

“That’s not yet the end, Ben.” whispered Shmi, her forehead resting against Kylo’s.

The young man sighed, his lips shaking with sobs. His mind confused with fear. His heart throbbing with hope. Something he refused to feel for so long. He lacked the strength all these years, fooling his mind with violence and rage to not face his own weakness. 

But loneliness wasn’t anymore a reality. He had someone behind him. Someone at his side. Someone believing in him. Someone to fight for. He had the confidence of Shmi Skywalker. And maybe she was the only one who mattered all these years. 

The young man looked at her. At her family. And he saw nothing else than love and acceptance. The only thing he truly sought in his existence. Kylo closed his eyes, tears rolling down on his cheeks. It was the moment for another choice. Another choice changing his life. For good. 

The Supreme Leader closed his eyes, letting the Force surrounding him. After all these years defying it, Kylo Ren asked for its guidance. He felt the strong presence in the Force of the Scavenger and the Traitor, both of them wondering if it could be true. Then, the confusion radiating from Poe Dameron. And then, the quietness presence of Shmi, waiting patiently with love and kindness. 

Kylo’s lips twitched with the shadow of smile. Not a smirk like his father. Not a daunting smile, like Snoke taught him. A smile born from sincerity, something he barely remembered. Slowly, Kylo opened his fist, feeling his saber sliding down his hand, ready to leave him. Like Kylo wanted to leave that life. 

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” screamed a voice so deep it sounded like it came from the depths of the ground. 

A dark wave flowed on his mind, engulfing everybody, drowning Shmi’s love in the abyss. Kylo shivered with fear, his mind screaming with despair to feel Shmi leaving him, letting him alone. 

Kylo opened his eyes, seeing Shmi’s terrified face before him and instinctively, he grabbed back his saber before he felt, turning it on, ready to face any threat to them, to Shmi. He felt the dark wave sinking on them and Kylo let his instincts kicking.

He turned around just in time to see his red blade stabbing a figure wrapped in a black robe through the chest. It made nothing to him and Kylo felt how similar this threatening shape was to Shmi’s appearance. Except that Shmi was made of pure Light and this one was radiating Darkness. 

He saw a wrinkled hand wrapping around his neck and trying to choke the life out of him, hosting Kylo on his tiptoes. The young man tried to tear this hand away from him, letting his saber falling on the ground and his hold on the trio of Resistants at the same time, but he only managed to scratch the skin of his neck to blood. 

He saw the blaster shot going through the dark figure and he knew that Dameron was the source of it. Only him could react like that to an enemy’s distress. But whoever was holding Kylo, he was strong enough to send them flying far away from them without even moving a finger. 

“You’re a disappointment.” spat out this horrendous voice and Kylo gasped, recognizing this voice from the Empire archives Snoke made him watching so he could mimicking his grandfather, so he could become a puppet to him like Anakin Skywalker has been to Palpatine. 

“You’re dead.” groaned Kylo and the Emperor Dark Ghost laughed.

Kylo could feel Shmi’s anger. An anger so familiar. But it was only fear Kylo felt at this moment. Fear of what Palpatine could do to her, to Shmi. How he could destroy her, take her away from him. Erasing her from the Force. Kylo couldn’t stand the thought of Shmi not existing anymore. He couldn’t stand this man hurting her anymore than he already did. 

“Your grandfather was a fool, boy.” grumbled Palpatine. “I gave him everything and he betrayed me for a boy he didn’t even know.” hissed with poison this Ghost. “I was ready to offer you the Galaxy against your allegiance.” breathed the man against Kylo’s face and the young man restrained himself to bend forwards and bite this disgusting face. Everything to stay him away from Shmi. “She has made of you nothing more than a weak boy.” he finished, his hand tightening around Kylo’s throat and the young man felt air lacking and the life flooding away from his body. 

Kylo closed his eyes, wondering what was expecting him once he would be dead. Would he see his family again? Would his father being there? Would he forgive him for what he did? Would he be tormented by all the people he killed in his destructive wave of chaos? Would the Force letting him still existing? Kylo doubted. In death like all his life, he would always doubt about what was expecting him. But he was ready to face it. 

“You’re strong Ben.” whispered Shmi’s voice in his ear. “Stronger than any of us.” 

He felt her hand resting on his left hand, these hands still wrapped around Palpatine’s choke on his throat. When her skin touched his, Kylo’s whole body awakened to welcome the weight of his heritage, feeling the presence of every person who contributed to bring him to the world. Not only the Skywalkers. 

Suddenly, he felt a hand, a strong hand, warm and calloused sliding on his shoulder. A move so familiar which threw him years backwards. When he was a little boy. A little boy only asking for his father’s time. Kylo gasped when he recognized this hand, tears burning his eyes like they never stopped to do every time he thought about him.

Kylo Ren opened his eyes, his dark glance diving into Palpatine’s horrendous gaze. And he saw him for who he really was. Someone who never deserved Kylo’s allegiance. Someone who never deserved the fall of Kylo’s family. Someone who never deserved anything except death and oblivion. 

With the strength of his ancestors, Kylo finally felt Palpatine’s hands under his fingers. He was finally strong enough to take them away from him. He couldn’t help smirking when he felt the confusion of his enemy. And layered under it, something Palpatine never experience him. Something he couldn’t recognize as fear. Something Kylo knew too well. 

“I will not be a slave.” groaned Kylo, taking away Palpatine’s hands from his neck. 

Kylo tended his hands before him and lightnings escaped from them, targeting the dark shape of the Emperor to throw him back in the abyss. Kylo screamed out all his rage, all his pain to have been robbed of his own life just because of his name. He let all the rage of this family flowing through him. He let all their Darkness taking over him. He let them fighting one last time. 

Kylo didn’t realize how much time passed when the fire burning inside him finally tone down to let him empty, exhausted, alone. All of them had disappeared. All of them except Shmi. The brightest of them. 

Kylo looked down at his hands, in shock. Whatever he did, he knew that Darkness would never abandon him, no matter how much Shmi believed in him. It would be a constant fight. And Kylo felt so exhausted. 

He saw Shmi’s soft hands taking his. Without a word, she took off Kylo’s damaged gloves, the young man hissing when the leather was torn off his wounded flesh. Darkness always had a price. Kylo knew that too well. 

Shmi’s hands brushed against his palms and their sudden coldness appeased Kylo’s pain, but not erasing the scars. The young man tried to smile but he could only let a sob out, his heart and mind still confused. Whatever he was doing, he would never feel again the peace and acceptance he felt in this brief moment. 

He felt Shmi taking his head between her hands, resting her forehead against his. Kylo closed his eyes. He knew what was happening next and he refused it.

“May the Force be with you Ben.” whispered Shmi.

She kissed softly his forehead and the young man sighed, his lips shaking with sadness when her presence finally disappeared, letting Kylo alone. The young man opened his eyes, gasping when he saw that she really wasn’t there anymore, destined to be a memory in Kylo’s troubled mind. 

He felt the three Resistants coming closer to him. He heard the Scavenger calling for the Traitor with fear in her voice. But Kylo didn’t care anymore. They weren’t anymore his enemy. Even if he still was theirs. The fight of his family wasn’t over yet. But they let Kylo alone to handle it. He couldn’t do that. 

Still lost in the hurricane of thoughts from his own weakness, Kylo barely registered someone appearing before his eyes. Only when they handed him his saber, Kylo recognized their presence. Seeing the face of the Traitor was the last one he expected to see. Even less to handle him a weapon Kylo used to hurt him. 

But maybe it made sense after all. Than him, more than anybody else, could have an idea of what was happening in his mind. Than him, more than anybody else, was ready to give a second chance. Kylo looked up, his eyes crossing the other man’s eyes. There was distrust in his eyes but the man was still waiting for Kylo to take the saber. 

And he did. 

**Author's Note:**

> My Tumblr: @midgardiannerd


End file.
